How to Control Pace in a Speech
The best way to controllable the uncontrollable is understanding how you speak & naturally how to speak in a way that’s natural for you on MasterTalk. Follow me on Instagram: @masteryourtalk
1. Fix inconsistencies between your normal speaking voice in general vs. in presentations (1:03).
My general rule of thumb with pace, even if you don’t have a lot of time to present, is that your natural speaking speed should be similar to how you present. In my personal case, this is a bit different because since I’ve practised so much, I can pace at any speed I want, and speak in a way that’s still inspiring at any speed. But, I’d say for beginners, since pace is a tricky and vague subject to understand, is focus first on making sure both speaking speeds align. A common example I see with this public speaking exercise with most students is they speak WAY faster in presentations to get it over with than if I grabbed a lunch or coffee with them since they’ve always viewed as a bad thing to get rid of as fast as possible. In this specific case, speaking fast is wrong not because I have trouble hearing you, but because you, yourself are speaking in a way that’s not even natural for you and that’s a huge red flag. I hate the whole speak slower advice, because some speakers already speak slowly on stage, so I want you to make sure you’re aligned on both and make adjustments as necessary to align the two through feedback from your accountability partner who can see inconsistencies between both of your speaking voices and help you master this public speaking exercise.
2. Have your worst critics determine if your normal speaking voice should be your presentation
voice (2:56).
I’d say after you’ve completed Number 1, you’re exponentially better at controlling pace than most speakers in the world since it’s something very few people practice. Now, you should be in a position where you can control how fast you’d like to speak especially if you were in the situation where you were speaking too fast at the beginning and you’ve slowed down tremendously after this I gave this tip to you. This is important to master first before seeing if this is the right voice for you, because if you ever want to become world class like me, you need to be able to master pace at all speeds which is something I can do, for instance. Now, in the case where your natural speaking voice is too fast for your audience, I recommend watching videos on slow speakers like myself (link in the description) or other speakers you like that are slow to hear what it sounds like and just record yourself at a lower tempo until your at a pace that your audience will like, remember this exercise is way easier now because you went through the excruciating exercise of aligning both your speaking voice in coffees and presentations. In the opposite case, if you’re slower than me, for instance, I think this is a much easier fix, you simply write out a speech and read it as fast as you’d like to be speaking that your audience likes and maintain that tempo while practising, simple as that. The more common voice to fix though is faster to slower, so bear that mind, if you’re in the opposite category, I don’t think you’ll have much trouble fixing your pace and you'll master this public speaking exercise.
3. Acknowledge that your pace will change based on your audience, your time limit and how much content you want to present (5:47).
At this level, since you’ll have a much easier time switching through different paces, for every speech you do, you need to ask yourself what pace you want to use for any individual presentation. Given that I hate compromising on my content for my keynotes, I generally use faster paces if I’m given less time for the same keynote, so bear that in mind when picking which pace suits the presentation you want to give and the goal of the presentation itself. And please also note that the decision to value content above all else is a PERSONAL one, not necessarily the RIGHT thing to do because only you know what the right approach is since it’s your content. In my case, my audience will never change their public speaking habits, unless I give them the right information to make them believe they can make a change, only then, will they seek out MasterTalk so I value presenting everything even if I need to go a little bit more quicker with this public speaking exercise.
As always, if you enjoyed this week’s episode of MT, be sure to SMASH the LIKE button and SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel to see more videos like this and if you know one friend that speaks way too fast, send them this video, so that they’ll be one step closer to mastering their talk.
For business or one-on-one public speaking coaching inquiries, you can reach me at [email protected].
Special thanks to Maison Leporem for letting me use the space.
https://maisonleporem.com/